Christmas

Blackstar is an American animated television series, a science fantasy story sometimes reported as being inspired by Thundarr the Barbarian. It was produced in 1981 by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation. The series was Filmation’s second fantasy epic, the first being The Freedom Force, a segment of Tarzan and the Super 7. Blackstar has many notable similarities to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which was produced shortly afterwards.

The A-Team is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from 1983 to 1987 about members of a fictitious former United States Army Special Forces unit. The members, after being court-martialed “for a crime they didn’t commit”, escaped from military prison and, while still on the run, worked as soldiers of fortune. The series was created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo. A feature film based on the series was released by 20th Century Fox in June 2010.

BIG TRAK / bigtrak is a programmable electric vehicle created by Milton Bradley in 1979, resembling a futuristic Sci-Fi tank / utility vehicle, possibly for use on the Moon or a Planetoid style environment. The original Big Trak was a six-wheeled (two-wheel drive) tank with a front-mounted blue “photon beam” headlamp, and a keypad on top. The toy could remember up to 16 commands, which it then executed in sequence. There also was an optional cargo trailer accessory, with the U.K. version being white to match its colour scheme; once hooked to the Bigtrak, this trailer could be programmed to dump its payload.

In 2010, BIG TRAK was relaunched in the form of a slightly modified replica (cosmetically very similar to the original U.K. bigtrak), produced under licence by Zeon Ltd. There is also a small dedicated Internet community who have reverse engineered the BIG TRAK and the Texas Instruments TMS1000 microcontroller inside it.

Harp Lager was first produced in 1960 as a bottled beer by the Guinness company (now Diageo), in response to the trend among drinkers in Britain and Ireland towards continental lager. Guinness converted its Dundalk brewery into a modern lager production plant with the guidance of Dr. Herman Muender, a distinguished German brewer. Various names were considered for the brand, including Atlas, Cresta and Dolphin, before Harp was chosen. The brand was marketed with the Brian Boru harp as its emblem.

The manufacturer states that Harp is made with pure water from the Cooley Mountains, Dundalk.

By 1961 a consortium of brewers, Courage, Barclay & Simonds, Scottish & Newcastle, Bass, Mitchells & Butlers and Guinness, grouped together as Harp Lager Ltd to brew and market the beer. Courage’s Alton Brewery, where Courage Director’s had been brewed, was rebuilt to produce the lager in Great Britain.

Cadbury Roses are a selection of individually wrapped chocolates currently made by Cadbury. Introduced in 1938, they are named after the English packaging equipment company “Rose Brothers” (later Rose Forgrove), that manufactured and supplied the machines that wrapped the chocolates.

Roses are an inexpensive confectionery, containing a small proportion of cocoa solids, and a high proportion of vegetable fat. A large packet can be bought cheaply, making them a common stand-by gift choice due to the variety of contained chocolates. They are an extremely common gift on Mother’s Day and sell well throughout the Christmas period.